Rhys's Angel
by Stygian Hazard
Summary: After the fall of Helios and helping to open the Vault of the Traveler, Rhys decided it was the perfect time to start his life anew on Pandora. The first thing he needed to do was rebuild the Atlas Corporation. Unfortunately, a new complication came up and threw a wrench in his plans. If he didn't know any better, he would think that AIs were lured towards him. HIATUS
**A/N: This fic originally belonged to Girl of Hope under the name, Guardian Angel in the Flesh. I've taken it over at her request after we started discussing it. We'll be working together to complete it from now on while I'm in charge or the writing.**

 **This pairing just seems really interesting and cute to me. After reading the fic I mentioned above, I looked around to see if I could see others who liked it. There's a person on DeviantArt named Silvershodan who did a few drawings with them in it that I'd recommend taking a look at. The way he draws Angel is adorable.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands or Tales from the Borderlands. And I really wish I could be a Vault Hunter.**

* * *

"She was my Angel…" Handsome Jack said softly.

Rhys groaned as he drank some water while sitting on his bed. It looked like he would be having another sleepless night. Unfortunately, it wasn't because of overwork or anything as mundane as that. It was the nightmares. Or at least, that was the only word he could think of that could describe them.

Lately, his dreams were plagued with flashing images. It was hard to tell when exactly it had started. If he had to guess, it was most likely ever since he had been in Handsome Jack's luxurious office back on Helios. The only thing that was consistent about the nightmares was the name Angel always being heard in them. Most the time, it was Handsome Jack saying it. Other times, it was someone else. Every time Rhys would wake up from these dreams, that word was the only thing he could remember.

There was no way Rhys could tell any of his friends about his dreams. They had enough on their minds. They didn't need him complaining about lack of sleep on top of it all. It wasn't affecting his work; so to him, it wasn't that big of a deal. He just hoped he wasn't going crazy, or worse, psycho. He would rather off himself than become one of them.

"Rhys!" A voice called out. It almost sounded like static in the distance, unclear and faint.

Rhys almost thought that he was recalling the dream again until he realized that the voice sounded more real this time. He pinched himself to check if he had fallen asleep. He winced at the sharp pain. It wasn't a dream.

"Rhys!" The voice called his name.

"H-hello?" Rhys asked out loud, half hoping for a reply and half hoping to not get one.

"Rhys!" The voice called again.

Rhys flinched. The voice was real and not something in his head. That was bad. He was supposed to be all alone in the Atlas base. Cassius, Loader Bot, and Gortys lived with him too, but they didn't sound like this voice and their areas were on another floor. More importantly, they were off visiting Vaughn and the Children of Helios currently. That could only mean one thing.

"Shit," Rhys reached over to grab his trusty stun baton off of his nightstand and turned it on. "This place really is haunted. I should've listened to Sasha."

Slowly, hesitantly, Rhys got up and left of his room while holding his stun baton in front of him like a sword. Walking down a hallway, he noticed a light coming from the small room close by that he had set aside to be a living room for the foreseeable future. Although right now the space only had a reclining chair, a small television, and a work bench that he also used as a dining table more than he probably should.

Reluctantly, Rhys moved closer to slowly peek past the door into the room. The television was switched on, something he clearly remembered turning off earlier. A pure white background was displayed on the screen. He cautiously entered the room while looking around in case of a surprise attack. The screen flicked, bringing his attention back towards it instantly.

Later, when he would retell this story to others, he made sure to leave out the part where he jumped back and screamed shrilly in terror.

An image of a young woman appeared on the screen. Her long black hair blowing and whipping around the left side of her face, her mouth was moving as though she was talking yet no words came out, and her vibrant blue eyes turned to look at him expectantly.

The only thing that was recognizable about her was her eyes. There was only one person he could think of with eyes that blue, even if it had only been in a picture he had seen briefly.

"Angel?" Rhys asked, unable to keep the disbelief out of his voice. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes for good measure.

Angel was still in his tv and looking right at him.

"Hello, Rhys," Angel said gently. Her mouth's movement didn't move in sync to her words, but her mouth shifted to a tiny smile after a moment. After a moment, her smile faltered. "Is something wrong?"

"You're…" Rhys said, thinking carefully about what he should say next. There was a rumor on Helios that Angel had killed her mom. He wasn't sure how, but he definitely didn't want to find out the hard way. After a moment of thought, he continued. "You're supposed to be… not here." He applauded himself mentally for not using the word dead like he had with Handsome Jack.

Angel looked down sadly. Even though Rhys hadn't used the word, it was clear what he had meant. She was supposed to be dead. And by all rights, she was dead right now. Unbeknownst to her asshole of a father, and most likely everyone else, Angel had a back-up copy of her conscious saved on Helios. Thanks to that, she was still somewhat alive and aware in her digital form without anyone realizing. She had stayed hidden, waiting for an opportunity to leave. It had taken longer than she had expected for one to arrive. Yet finally, after what had felt like ages, she found a way. Thanks to Rhys.

"My physical body is deceased," Angel explained, her eyes shifting back to his through the screen. Her lips stopped moving, turning into a self-depreciating smirk while the explanation continued unhindered. "But my mind has remained intact after all of these years on Helios. Well, until recently."

"Until recently?" Rhys asked in bewilderment. "Exactly how recently are we talking here?" He didn't like where this was going.

"Oh," Angel averted her eyes away from his nervously. "Since you, you know, crashed Helios."

"WHAT?!" Rhys screamed. He sat down heavily in his recliner and scratched his head nervously. "That was months ago! You've been here all this time? How did you even…"

"How did I enter you?" Angel asked suggestively.

"Yeah," Rhys coughed awkwardly at the wording. "Yeah, that…"

"When my _father_ plugged you into his desk to take over your body," Angel said. She waited a moment to see if Rhys would interrupt, but he didn't. "At that time, he uploaded his program into Helios. At the exact same time, I uploaded myself into your cybernetics and hid myself."

"That doesn't make sense," Rhys shook his head. "Handsome Jack should have noticed then."

"You give him too much credit," Angel shot back. "He and I may both be A.I. programs, but I'm a Siren. My powers exceed his."

"Oh, really? That's good to know." Rhys leaned further away from the tv.

"You have nothing to fear from me." Angel said calmly, trying to elevate his worries.

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that," Rhys said, trying not to show how worried he was. Suddenly, he remembered something else that didn't make sense. "Wait, but if you were hiding in my cybernetics too, why didn't you die again like Handsome Jack did when I destroyed them?"

"Like I said, my powers exceed his," Angel said, trying not to sound boastful. "He needed a direct connection to leave and enter computers. I do not. When I realized what you were doing, I Phaseshifted away."

"Right," Rhys nodded along in understanding. He had heard that she could do just about anything when it came to computers and electronics. "You're a Siren, of course. That figures. So why come here then? It can't have been a coincidence."

"There are a few reasons why I decided to come here," Angel replied. Her smile twitched upward to show her teeth for a couple of seconds before the screen flicked back to her neutral expression. "For starters, I wanted to thank you for truly finishing off Handsome Jack."

"Like I had a choice," Rhys said angrily. That day would always haunt him. "It was either him or me and everyone else. I had to sacrifice Helios in order to do it. A lot of people died…"

"Imagine what the alternative would have been though, Rhys," Angel said. The screen flicked again between her normal expression and an angry expression. "He would have taken you over and finished what he had started. You would have been nothing but a puppet to him, just like I was. It may not have been an easy decision you made, but it was the right one."

"I guess…" Rhys said, looking down at the floor in contemplation.

"You are a complicated individual." Angel remarked after a few minutes of complete silence.

"It's really late," Rhys yawned loudly before rubbing his eyes. "Can you please just be straightforward with what you're saying."

"You enjoy the attention of being called a hero by your friends and former coworkers," Angel clarified. "Yet here I am and you're shying away from the admiration. I wonder… Do you only want to impress those around you, or do you realize that being a hero isn't just about people knowing your name?"

"I…" Rhys couldn't think of anything to say to say to that. "I just… Wow, I really don't know how to respond to that."

"But like a hero, you help people who need it," Angel said, looking at Rhys hopefully. "That's the final reason that I decided to come here. To ask for your help."

"You… You need my help?" Rhys asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"I do," Angel replied simply. The screen flicked again. She was far away, then close again. After a moment, she looked away before quickly looking back "I want to be alive again. I can only trust you with this task."

"Alive?" Rhys inquired. He knew it was late in the night, but even if he was wide awake, he wouldn't have been able to understand what Angel was saying. "Wait, you're not planning on taking over my body like Handsome Jack was, are you?" He held his stun baton out in front of him in what he hoped was a threatening manner.

"No," Angel said, laughing at the thought. Her shoulders shook as she struggled not to be overcome with laughter, showing off her Siren tattoos. "Definitely not."

"Ok, I'm a bit insulted here," Rhys said flatly. "But still, that's good to know. So what exactly do you mean then?"

"I wish to be free, once and for all. Not to help and betray Vault Hunters, or go looking for trouble. I just want to live. And the only person who can help, who I can count on, is you." Angel stared directly at Rhys, her eyes shining brightly on the screen.

If Rhys didn't know any better, he would have thought that she was about to cry. That should be impossible for an A.I. program, but she was also a Siren. Still, even if she sounded sincere, she was related to Handsome Jack. It would be crazy to trust her. He had

"This is crazy!" Rhys shook his head, trying to concentrate. "How…?"

"Please!" Angel cried out desperately. "I need you to help me. I swear I'll repay you. Just please, help me. I don't want to be alone again."

Rhys gazed at Angel thoughtfully before glancing down at his stun baton.

* * *

 **EXTRA**

"Let's play a game." Vaughn said.

"Really?" Rhys rolled his eyes at the juvenile suggestion. "Why would we do that?"

"Look, we just met. We don't know anything about the each other and this should help break the ice." Vaughn explained.

"Ugh... Fine." Rhys sat up in his chair. He didn't really want to do this, but it wasn't like there was anything better to do. Plus, all of the other seats in the cafeteria were full so he had no choice but to sit next to this accountant.

"Great!" Vaughn pushed his plate to the side and leaned forward. "Ok, on the count of three, name your favorite animal on Pandora. Don't even think about it, just name it. "Ready? 1. 2. 3."

"Thresher!" They both said at the same time.

Vaugn looked at Rhys speculatively.

"Favorite non-pornographic magazine to masturbate to." Rhys said next.

"Discovery Channel Magazine!" They both said immediately.

Vaughn's eyes widened in shock.

Rhys looked at Vaughn incredulously before hesitantly asking his next question. "If you were a chick, who is the one guy you would sleep with?"

"Handsome Jack." They said unhesitatingly.

"What?!" Vaughn slapped the table hard.

"Did we just become best friends?" Rhys asked.

"Yup." Vaughn nodded before holding up his fist.

Rhys fist bumped it enthusiastically.

"Do you want to go to the lounge and make fun of Vasquez?" Rhys asked with a hint of hopefulness.

"Yup." Vaughn said before getting up and following Rhys out of the cafeteria.

And thus, their lifelong friendship was born.

* * *

 **A/N: The EXTRA came from a movie called Step Brothers, for those who didn't get the reference. I have a bunch of ideas/situations from movie and commercials to use with Rhys and Vaughn and I can't wait to use them.**

 **So it looks like Rhys has a decision to make. Should he help Angel or no? In the spirit of the game, I'll be letting you decide. You can even make up your own third response, if you want (there's no guarantee I'll pick it unless there are a lot of other people are saying the same thing).**

 **Again, the original idea and concept for this came from Girl of Hope.**

 **Please let me know what you think and what you think would be interesting to see happen next.**


End file.
